1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to filtering apparatus and more particularly, to a new improved industrial-type filter which utilizes a unique inner and outer bag configuration for permitting implementation with a variety of solid particulate filtering media which are compressed by the fluid pressure to significantly enhance the filtering effect.
2. PRIOR ART
The most relevant prior art known to the applicant includes the following United States patents:
1,757,834 Haegler PA1 2,101,555 Moore et al. PA1 2,204,431 Moore et al. PA1 2,622,414 Jaubert PA1 3,258,899 Coffin PA1 3,399,514 Reid PA1 3,963,467 Rolschau PA1 4,105,562 Kaplan et al; PA1 4,289,630 Schmidt, Jr. et al. PA1 4,398,931 Shevlin PA1 4,481,022 Reier PA1 4,525,184 Tassicker PA1 4,581,047 Larsson
U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,184 to Tassicker is directed to a vertically tiered particle filtering apparatus and includes a plurality of filter tubes. Gas enters the overall vessel through an inlet and passes through the filter tubes in order to leave a compartment. The gas is drawn into the tubes due to a pressure differential between the compartment and the interior of the tubes. As the particle laden gas passes through the filter tubes it is filtered and then passes through hood chambers and into a tube through openings for passage out of the vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,899 to Coffin is directed to a system for fractionating gaseous mixtures. This does not use a plurality of bags, but provides for a vessel where the flow as seen in FIG. 4 passes through an adsorbent material and then through the perforations and into a central tube for passage external to the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,757,834 to Haegler is directed to a filter in which FIG. 2 shows a container having an upper end. Extending upwardly through the center of the container is a pipe. They provide for the filtering media and filter bags. The flow comes in from the top and passes through the filter bags, then out through the top of the filter bags and into the pipe. This provides for removal of the filtered gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,481,022 to Reier is directed to a bag assembly system and provides for a plurality of filter bags suspended within a filter housing. The filter bag assembly includes filter bags as shown in FIG. 2. It does provide for a plurality of filter bags within a bag housing, however, the flow passes upwardly into the bags and then outwardly therethrough for external displacement through a conduit.
None of the prior art known to the applicant discloses a filtering apparatus having an inner filter bag concentrically arranged within an outer filter bag, the outer filter bag being designed to receive any one of a number of possible filtering media, the flow of the fluid through the filter being from the outside of the outer bag to the inside of the inner bag, the design being facilitated by a perforated tube inner bag support structure. As a result, none of the prior art known to the applicant provides the high filtering efficiency of the present invention caused by fluid compression which compresses the filtering media radially inward toward the perforated tube in order to significantly increase the density of the filtering media. It would be advantageous to provide a filter having a universal filtering use resulting from a design which is capable of receiving virtually any one of a number of particulate material filtering media. None of the prior art known to the applicant combines the feature of radial fluid compression of the filtering media with virtually unlimited filtering applications based upon the ability to select an unlimited number of filter media ingredients. Thus, there has been a long-felt need for a filtering apparatus particularly suited for industrial applications which has an extremely high filtering efficiency, which is relatively inexpensive to produce and which has a virtually unlimited number of filtering applications for filtering fluids depending upon the user's selection of filtering media.